Bells and Whistles
by Beaglicious
Summary: She loved him, even without the bells and whistles. JC. No spoilers.


Bells and Whistles

Disclaimer: Not mine, just borrowing them.

Summary: She loved him, even without the bells and whistles. Follows "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.' No spoilers. Pure JC fluff.

A/N: Written in response to the MiamiFicTalk challenge. And yes, this is a very belated Valentine's fic. So I'm running just a _little_ behind schedule…

Prompt: 017 – 'Celebration'

Jake ran his hand down the side of his stubbled face and sighed quietly. The evening wasn't going at all how he'd planned, although he seemed to be the only one put out by this fact. Calleigh, seated next to him, her hand absently locked in his and her eyes focused on their child, seemed utterly and ridiculously happy.

Jake stretched out his long, lean legs, banging his shinbone for the third time on the munchkin-sized table at which they were seated. The plastic bench he was sitting on with Calleigh was uncomfortably hard and sticky with some undetermined substance, most likely the sugary remnants of a spilled soft drink. In front of him, on an equally sticky red plastic tray, were a pile of soggy French fries and a few forlorn chicken nuggets. Next to the tray, condensation collected on the outside of the waxy paper cup holding Joseph's untouched drink. Jake's heart caught in his chest again with the thought that this was not where he'd planned on them spending the evening. Not this evening. Not here. And he had the now worthless theater tickets in his back pocket and the broken dinner reservations to prove it.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Jake asked, pulling Calleigh's attention away from their son, who was belly-flopping with unrestrained glee into a pool of multi-colored plastic balls.

Calleigh looked over at Jake and smiled. "It's perfect," she told him, not for the first time that evening. She met his eyes and squeezed his hand reassuringly. "Really." Jake nodded. He believed her, and yet, how could this be even close to what she wanted? Sometimes, his wife was a complete mystery to him, and he realized that it was a fool's folly to think that he had Calleigh Duquesne all figured out.

With Calleigh's attention now focused on him, Jake shifted his gaze to keep an eye on their son. Joseph was less than fifty feet from them, safe in the fenced play area with limited entry and exit, but his movements were always under the constant scrutiny of one or both of his parents. It wasn't just their jobs, the horrors that they had seen, that kept their gazes firmly trained on their child. It was parental instinct, and beyond that, it was first hand knowledge of how fleetingly precious life could be. They'd been given a second chance at happiness, all three of them had, and each was acutely aware of how much they stood to lose.

Joseph, now emerged from the balls and crawling upwards through a toddler-size hamster maze, caught Jake staring at him and waved, his tiny arm pumping fiercely. Jake nodded at Joseph, acknowledging him, then bit his lip to keep from laughing as Joseph pressed his mouth against a bubble window, his face contorted into a form that both he and Jake knew would earn them a glare from Calleigh.

"He's making faces at you, isn't he?" Calleigh said, her eyes still on Jake but all too aware of the faces her husband and son made at each other when they thought she wasn't looking.

Joseph scurried away, his focus now solely on the yellow plastic slide that would dump him back into the sea of plastic balls, and Jake looked down at Calleigh. "Maybe," he said, the impish grin on his face identical to the one Joseph often sported.

Jake gave his wife his full attention, raking his eyes appreciatively over her figure and not bothering to hide his appraisal from her. Calleigh was appropriately dressed for an evening out at McDonald's – tight, faded blue jeans that were frayed at the bottom, a pink cotton v-neck shirt, and flip flops that showed off ten delicate toes, painted pink and very nearly matching the color of her shirt. Her hair was pulled back into low ponytail, and the only jewelry she sported was a tiny pair of diamond studs, a gift Jake had surprised her with that morning as she was dressing. She'd turned down his other offers, dinner reservations and theater tickets, but she hadn't been able to contain her glee when she opened the small velvet jewelry box. As Jake had hoped, the earrings had caused Calleigh to look up at him and grin suggestively before pushing him back towards the bed. He'd been _very _late for work that morning, but it had been worth it. Calleigh was always worth it.

Jake wasn't entirely unhappy, on the contrary, he and Joseph both looked forward to the rare evenings when Calleigh would throw up her hands in disgust at the two and agree to eating dinner out. And while McDonald's was always Joseph's first choice (probably due to the playground and not the food, Jake thought as he stared at Joseph's untouched nuggets), Jake would have preferred that their little family go someplace just a tad bit more upscale for Valentine's Day, especially one as significant as this one. It was his and Calleigh's first Valentine's day in seven years, their first as parents, their first as they began their life together all over again. At the very least, he would have liked to go to someplace that served beer. He'd had a romantic evening planned, but Calleigh had scratched those plans that morning, along with the babysitter, insisting that she just wanted the three of them to spend a quiet evening together. And so, here the three of them were, doing just that.

Just then, Calleigh let out a contented sigh and leaned back into Jake's chest, resting her head on his shoulder, and Jake knew that despite all his planning for the perfect evening, right now there was no place in the world he'd rather be. They returned to watching Joseph in silence, Jake's free hand entangled in Calleigh's locks.

"Tell me again why you wanted to come to McDonalds?" Jake asked, still perplexed at Calleigh's choice of dining establishments. He knew there was more to it, but he just couldn't figure it out, and Calleigh certainly wasn't giving him any clues.

Calleigh opened her mouth to respond, but Joseph appeared then, breathing hard. His hair was sticky with sweat, and there was a dried smear of ketchup on the side of his face. Reflexively, Calleigh stuck her napkin in her water and lunged for Joseph, but Jake swooped him up into his arms and out of Calleigh's reach.

"I've got it, Cal," he said.

"Are you done, Joe?" Jake asked, turning his attention to his son. Joseph nodded. "Okay," Jake said, shifting Joseph to his hip. "What do you say me and you go to the bathroom and wash up?"

Joseph nodded his head enthusiastically and wrapped his arms around Jake's neck, as if anticipating that Calleigh would say no. He had just reached the stage where he resented having to use the women's restroom, and the battle of wills between him and his mother had reached almost epic proportions when Jake came along. Now, with an available and eager escort to the men's room, Joseph no longer protested hand-washing or hygiene in general, and Calleigh tried to handle this severed bond between mother and child with grace, not caring to dwell on whether or not Jake and Joseph bothered themselves with soap or hot water.

Jake and Joseph set off for the restrooms, Jake's long legs carrying the two quickly across the small dining area. Calleigh watched as Joseph cupped his hand and whispered into Jake's ear, her heart nearly bursting with love and affection for the two. She smiled, pleased that she'd managed to boggle Jake. Very little slipped by him unnoticed, but the motive behind her plans for the evening had. Her smiled widened. His curiosity was formidable, but it was about to be very satiated.

It was nearly forty-five minutes later when they finally made it home, and Joseph was sound asleep in the back seat. Jake reached back to unfasten him, and Calleigh whispered, "Don't you dare wake him up."

Jake made a face at Calleigh, who smirked back at him and headed for the door. Fletcher, their ink-black flat-coated retriever, greeted her wearily at the back door as she unlocked it, his tail thumping lazily against the wall. She'd taken him on an extra long run that morning, and his excessive energy was for once drained. Jake soon met up with her, a still slumbering Joseph hanging limply in his arms, and Fletcher trailed docilely along after him as Jake made his way to Joseph's room.

Ten minutes later, Jake had Joseph tucked into bed with Fletcher curled up beside him and already snoring softly. Jake looked down, debating one last time over whether he should risk waking Joseph to change him out of his clothes and into pajamas. He'd gotten his shoes and socks off, and Jake figured that one night in his clothes wasn't going to kill him. Calleigh might kill _him_ the next morning, but he had twelve hours to get into her good graces. Jake bent down and kissed Joseph softly on the head, brushing away the damp curls that were still stuck to his forehead.

The house was dark when he shut the bedroom door behind him. Jake made his way down the hallway towards his and Calleigh's bedroom, pulling off his t-shirt as he did so. After spending the evening at a place where he stuck to any surface he touched, Jake was more than ready for a shower.

"Joe's in bed," Jake said as he opened the door to their bedroom. He was going to mention that he was also still fully clothed, but the sight before him stole his capacity to speak.

"Are you up for a late night Valentine's celebration?" Calleigh asked, her voice low and smooth. She was laying on their bed, propped up against pillows, wearing a simple piece of silk lingerie, its soft pearl color standing out in sharp contrast to their dark bedspread. She'd taken her hair out of the ponytail, and it fell around her shoulders in loose waves. A short, round candle burned on each bedside table, infusing the room with a soft, warm glow.

Jake's eyes widened in awe and appreciation at the sight before him, before narrowing with suspicion and realization. "You planned this from the beginning, didn't you?" he asked, shaking a finger at her. "You knew exactly what you were doing from the moment you got out of bed this morning." The flush on Calleigh's cheeks confirmed his thoughts.

Jake approached the bed, but he didn't sit down, not yet. He continued to talk, rehashing the day's events in light of this new observation. "You told me you got to thinking about a case and lost track of time, and that's why you were out running with Fletcher so long this morning. But you really did it so that he would be too tired to demand his usual late evening walk tonight – because you had other plans. "

At this point, Calleigh cut in. "I did get a little preoccupied with one of my cases," she protested. Jake shook his head. Every action of hers was now being viewed in a different light. He couldn't believe he'd missed all the subtle signs that she had something up her sleeve. McDonald's on Valentine's Day? He should have known better.

Jake continued to think out loud. "And then you decided that we were going to McDonald's for dinner tonight, even before Joe or I started whining about what we were having. And you didn't ask us where we wanted to go either; you just announced that you'd forgotten to thaw out the chicken and off we headed to McDonald's. As if you've ever forgotten to defrost something in your entire life."

Calleigh opened her mouth to protest again, but Jake sat down on the bed in front of her, and covered her lips with one of his fingers. "Shhh," he said. "I'm still thinking." But even as he said this, his hand was running up and down Calleigh's jaw line. Calleigh shivered with anticipation. Jake smiled at the shiver that she was unable to hide, and lowered his mouth to her collarbone, where he began to place a soft trail of kisses, working his way out from her neck to her shoulder.

"And then," he began again, his words hot and moist on Calleigh's skin, "You didn't say a word when Joe picked at his overpriced kid's meal and then ran off to play on the playground instead."

Calleigh finally spoke then, her breath somewhat ragged. "Why Detective Berkeley," she drawled, her words as thick and drawn out as salt-water taffy, "I do believe you have cracked the case."

Jake nipped at her then, eliciting a small gasp from Calleigh. "You've got a smart mouth, Duquesne," he said, although the traces of a smile were beginning to tug at his lips.

"So I know what I want," she argued, pausing to bite her lower lip when Jake gently kissed the area he'd just bitten. "And I'm not above engaging in a little deception to get it."

"You just look so innocent, it's hard for me to imagine that you were scheming behind my back," he answered, not bothering to remove his mouth from her skin. His hands were equally occupied as he worked to remove what little clothing Calleigh had on. Jake was rapidly losing interest in the conversation, knowing that Calleigh had won this battle of wits but not at all sorry to have lost. If this was the sort of game his sweet wife wanted to play, then he was all for it, because losing to Calleigh never quite felt like losing anyhow.

"I believe I was scheming right in front of your face, Detective," Calleigh teased, pleased but not surprised that her plan had worked so well. Jake had been quite preoccupied recently, both with work and with the upcoming holiday. He'd been so concerned with making his own plans that he paid no attention at all to Calleigh's quiet maneuvering.

And this was exactly what she had been plotting to achieve. _This_ – her and Jake alone, with minimal potential for interruption - was exactly what she'd wanted. She didn't need fancy dinners or flowers from him. What she needed was _him_, the feel of his hands on her skin, the sound of his voice in her hair, the taste of him on her lips. And now that she finally had it, she wasn't about to waste one moment of it.

"I just wanted you," Calleigh told him, pulling his head up to look him in the eyes. "That's all. You and me, that's plenty. You don't have anything to make up to me, Jake, and I know that you love me even without all the bells and whistles. Okay?"

Jake nodded, again speechless. How he'd managed to find this wonderful creature, persuade her to marry his sorry self, and then to take him back after nearly seven years in the wind was beyond his capacity for understanding. All he knew was that he was eternally thankful to have been allowed back in her life, and that he was bound and determined to devote every day of the rest of _his _life proving that to her.

With that thought in mind, Jake lowered his mouth to Calleigh's, stopping just before his lips made contact with hers. His mouth curved into a smile upon hearing the small moan that escaped from Calleigh when his lips failed to cover hers. "No bells and whistles, huh?" he whispered, his low voice nearly a growl. "Are you sure about that?"

Calleigh let out a soft laugh before closing the distance between their mouths, and Jake's world exploded into a sea of sensation as every nerve in his body caught fire. It never failed that she managed to take his breath away, although this time he felt it in a more literal sense. Calleigh pushed forward and he fell back, and Calleigh tumbled along with him, landing squarely on top of his chest. Even then she didn't break the kiss, and Jake found himself struggling to match her ardor. Finally, out of breath, Jake took control and flipped Calleigh over on her back, pinning her beneath his body. With Calleigh now firmly anchored beneath him, he could assess his next move, although he already had a pretty good idea of what that was going to be. Calleigh titled her head back and continued to laugh, utterly pleased with herself and the situation, and Jake realized that this moment was not, and never had been, his to control. Calleigh knew exactly what she wanted, and she knew exactly how to get it. She'd played him as deftly as a hand of cards, not that he was complaining.

Jake grinned at Calleigh. She'd won, but he was about to take his revenge. He lowered his mouth to her body and went straight to work on an especially sensitive spot. Calleigh gasped, crying out his name, and Jake broke contact with her skin just long enough to whisper in her ear. "Bells and whistles it is then, Mrs. Berkeley."

The End


End file.
